The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 47 – Straight to the Source

Matt had been on many assault teams in his life. He even had the opportunity to be on some while using the semi-powered armor like what he currently wore. He was always amazed at the speed they could hit an objective with. They had it down to a science in some instances, barely having to bound because of the terrain. All his previous assaults paled compared to this one. There wasn’t any way an earth infantry squad could keep up with his new group of professional hooligans.

The party had decided to skip trying to take on the remaining 5 groups of mutants that were patrolling in the area. They were betting on the patrols coming to them before long. That didn’t mean they would reach the walls of the fortress unopposed, however.

As the party ran through the mess that was the valley, they spread out to make a wedge formation with Matt in the middle. One of the patrolling groups of mutants did end up chasing after them but it was quickly solved. Matt and Jess barely slowing as the used their rifles on auto, pumping rounds into the mutants. Lisk cackled like a madman as he blasted a few with his shotgun. Venri and Echo oddly paired up with the drake hobbling some mutants, allowing her to deliver a shot with her special ammunition.

Matt emptied his last few rounds into a strange rodent that looked like a 2-meter-long badger with mange. He noticed they had cleared the last of them but had started to slow. “Keep pushing!” he shouted. The gated entrance to the fort was only a bit over 200 meters away. Lisk and Jess moved up on line, getting back into position as he stowed his rifle and pulled out the recoilless rifle once again.

“Back blast clear!” Matt shouted before firing a delayed fuse round at the gate. Then he quickly loaded a fresh round and fired the second, impact detonating 75-millimeter warhead. The result was mostly as Matt had hoped for.

The first round knocked right through the iron banded wood, leaving a splintered hole in the left door. It had exploded a fraction of a second later to soften any targets inside but also partly blew the doors outward. The second round was fired from much closer and hit the doors right in the center where he guessed a latch or cross bar would be. Resulting in the pair of 5-meter-tall doors being turned into splinters and twisted iron.

Matt could hear the screams and braying of wounded creatures as they approached the doors, finally getting a look inside as the dust settled. They slowed as they approached, careful not to get hung up on the ribbons of iron banding that had turned into a bird’s nest of rusted metal and wood splinters.

Switching to a thermal overlay, Matt was first through the hole in the gates. He saw a mess of blood and body parts coating the fractured flag stone. He fired a few single shots into the heads of several mutants still writhing on the ground. Lisk moved off to his right, following a bloody drag trail to an alcove in the entry way. 2 echoing booms later and he came back out, stuffing 2 more rounds in his magazine tube.

The demon flashed Matt a thumbs up. “Clear right.”

“Clear left” Venri called as she and Echo came out of their alcove.

Matt looked down the long and wide hallway they stood before, scanning the darkness for any sign of life. “Lisk… ah, actually, Jess can you come over here?” He looked to the far door and estimated it was about 15 meters from the entryway they stood in. “Take these.” He handed her a pair of frag grenades.

“What do you want me to do with these?” The elf asked.

“You roll one down the hall, I throw a flash which goes off first then you roll the second but stop it a little closer.” Matt explained his plan. “Frags take longer to go off but the flash might spook something out of cover. We will hide in the alcoves.” Jess nodded and moved away. Matt didn’t miss the look on Lisk’s face, showing the demon was still embarrassed.

They split up, moving to opposing alcoves. Matt made a bowling gesture, prompting Jess to roll her first grenade. Matt followed it up with the flash bang landing right in the middle of the hall. Then the second frag rolled out, slower than the first. They both ducked back into cover, rifles ready.

BANG! BOOM, BOOM. The grenades went off in almost perfect timing. Sure enough, from the ceiling dropped 2 long skinny figures which were then shredded by the 2 frags going off. Matt and team popped out of cover and moved down the hall, stopping only long enough to make sure the snake things were dead. When they made the door on the far side, Matt was amazed at how tight it was sealed, no light coming through.

“Alright lets get ready to breach.” Matt said but Echo flashed some images in his mind. “Wait, Echo will take this one.” They all stepped back and took up defensive positions.

Echo stepped up to the door and dragged his claws down the wood in a few places, tilting his head like he was listening for something. Then he backed up, shook like a dog getting out of water and opened his mouth as wide as he could.

Matt felt the mana building in his companion. He recognized the skill as the same one the drake had used on one of the giant metal boars. With a roar comparable to a jet engine, Echo bathed the door in blue hot plasma. The beam started from the base and quickly burned through, allowing Echo to bring it up quickly, melting and burning where the 2 doors met.

Echo backed away shaking his head like trying to get a tase out of his mouth and Matt took over. “Go, go, go. Breach left.” Matt called, 4 sets of boots clashed with the charred remains of the doors and flung them open. 5 meters in front of the door was the corpse of a very large… something. Clearly it had been waiting on the other side wanting to ambush them.

After he saw the corpse, Matt saw the rest of the rundown courtyard. He was not ready for what was in front of him. All around were the twisted and mutated remains of hundreds of animals. Each one was so distorted he could only guess at what the original was supposed to be. In the middle of it all was a mass of bone and sinew formed into a 4-meter-tall bipedal shape.

Patriarch of Corrupted Flesh. Level 53

“What the fuck is that supposed to be?” Venri said.

Matt wasn’t sure, but the hunched creature was clearly the mastermind of this corrupted mess. Its arms were far too long for its body and Matt counted 3 joints in each besides the one elbow he would expect. Each hand was a mess of long blade like nails at the end of each of the 4 fingers The legs were similar in their construction, with an extra knee joint and ending in taloned hooves. Matt didn’t think that was possible but then again, nothing about this thing made sense.

The torso was hunched with dense, banded muscles that clearly distorted the shape of the spine. There was a film of skin, but it looked diseased and just… wrong. The head was adorned with a crown of horns that pointed in almost every direction and framed the face of a cow like animal.

“It’s mine.” Matt finally responded as he stepped forward with Echo. “Stick to the plan and take care of the remainder.” His focus was beginning to narrow in the way he associated with his trait and the wrathful nature of his spirit.

The patriarch loosed a long honking bellow from its bovine like mouth. It began to move toward the group, but Matt stepped forward to intercept it. Echo faded off into the shadows at the base of the walls, lurking and waiting for his chance to strike. Matt noted that the monster moved on all for limbs but didn’t really put weight on its arms, showing it was bluffing.

Shit, the fucker is smart. Matt thought as he leveled his rifle, centering the chevron of his reticle on its forehead and pulled the trigger. A trio of rounds impacted the skull between and just above the bulging eyes, but none penetrated. Before the zipping of the first three rounds faded, he fired a second burst of imbued rounds, but the patriarch ducked the shot and charged him. I should have imbued the rounds from the start.

Matt had to teleport to dodge the lunging swipe of a clawed hand. He quickly learned that the monster knew exactly where he showed up as it kicked out at him with its foot. Matt rolled out of the way and avoided the blow. He then noticed the eyes scattered within the horns of the patriarch, giving it complete awareness of its surroundings.

Looking past the patriarch, Matt saw the rest of his party moving to defend the entrance. Venri looked at his fight like she wanted to interfere, but Jess pulled her back on task and set her up on one side of the hall with Lisk. He refocused on the patriarch just in time to see it flip around and crab walk toward him in a very disturbing way that kept its head away from him. That was fine with Matt, he could always go for a mobility kill.

Bang, Bang, Bang. A trio of imbued rounds impacted one of the knee joints closest to Matt. He noted that the monster screeched in a sound that reminded him of a train locking up its brakes on a rusted track. He was happy to see this burst had some effect but was disappointed to see the wounds healing over quickly. Ducking out of the way to avoid another flailing kick, Matt considered his options.

He could try and wear it down by attrition, using mana for ammo to whittle down its health pool. While that idea would likely work, he wanted to end this faster. The other option that came to mind was to remove the limb and see how that worked. In the end, he figured it couldn’t hurt or it couldn’t hurt him.

Matt teleported again, this time popping up in a position direct at the side of the monster but 20 meters away. He fired another burst into the already wounded joint, weakening it further. He then closed with the monster, Tomahawk in hand and swung an imbued blade at the knee. The weapon bit deep but only made it three quarters of the way through.

Before Matt could make a second strike, a clawed hand came at him from above. He teleported away but fired a line of plasma at the wound as he left. Reappearing at a distance, he surveyed the damage. His inspection was made difficult by the thrashing of the patriarch.

The leg had been severed at the lower knee joint, cauterized would be a better description but all his attacks had that effect. The severed leg was immediately beginning to rot and disintegrate where it lay on the stone floor. He then saw several of the eyes focus on him and felt a gathering of mana.

Matt fired a couple long bursts as he backed away. He wasn’t sure what was going on but the mana that was gathering was a greasy grey color and had the look of an oil slick with a rainbow sheen. His rounds continued to pepper the monster as he gained distance from it. Just as he was changing his magazine, the patriarch struck.

The patriarch flipped itself back into its original standing position, fully facing Matt and let loose with a breath attack. A stream of the greasy grey liquid sprayed toward him, splashing against everything in his vicinity. He dodged and teleported but a large glob of the mess had struck his thigh armor and was eating away at it. He immediately detached that section, abandoning it to fall to the ground where it began twisting and warping.

“You dirty bird.” Matt muttered as he finished his magazine change from atop the crumbling rampart. He had teleported up and to the side wagering that the attack would limit the mobility of the patriarch. He had been partly right. While it could still move, it was much slower, and the stream died off before it reached him. Before he could begin to plan his next move, Echo flashed him an image of a plan that could work out.

Matt prepped a flash grenade, pulling both pins and holding the spoon down in his left hand. He then readied his tomahawk in his right before rushing toward the patriarch. He was sure to hold his weapon high, easily seen with its glowing blade which the mutant focused on. Just as he closed within 10 meters with his telegraphed attack, making sure every eye of the monster was on him, he lobbed the flash bang and teleported backward as far as possible and pulled out his rifle.

The flash bang detonated a couple meters in front of the monster, and it roared in pain. Every eye on its head closed in a sympathetic reaction to the concussive pressure and light. As that happened, Echo appeared from the shadows, leaping at an arm. The drake collided with the patriarch, taking it to the ground and using his mana slash to separate the arm at the upper most elbow joint. He then jumped back, turning tail to dash away toward the walls.

Echo’s attack had left the monster rolling in pain and it thrashed on the ground. Matt seized the opportunity and fired a magazines worth of unstable round at the monster’s torso, hoping to pepper it with enough fragments to do something meaningful. It must have had some effect since he received a rock to the chest for his troubles.

The patriarch had grabbed at some of the broken stone, picking up a piece nearly 30 centimeters in diameter. It then hurled that boulder directly at Matt with such speed, he was unable to completely dodge or teleport. The jagged chunk of rock hit him square in the chest plate, missing both his arms and rifle by some twist of luck. The result was a broken armor plate and likely some cracked ribs judging by how bad it hurt for him to take a breath. Matt took that personally of course.

“Oh, you like to throw shit. Here, taste one of these.” Matt pitched a frag grenade faster than any baseball pitch in history but that wasn’t all. “And another of these. Ooo, I’m sure you will love this.” Matt then threw a flash bang before pulling out his recoilless rifle. “Carl would like a word with you.” He selected air burst and fired. He then pulled out his rifle again and imbued more unstable rounds before marching toward the patriarch. He didn’t even notice his aura and its influence was running rampant and blanketing the entire fortress.

*****

Jess was bracing her rifle hard against the door frame leading to the entrance hall. Her and the rest of the team had been holding off a constant stream of mutants. She was engaging them as far away as possible into the hills, Venri took those that made it within the outer gate and Lisk was dealing with any that closed further. So far, he hadn’t needed to fire and the only times the demon did was when he loaded a slug and covered for Venri to reload.

They were currently dealing with a trio of mutants that had suddenly rounded the corner and rushed the far doors. The fight in the background was beyond distracting but as much as Jess wanted to watch, she had a part to play. A pair of the mutants had managed to get inside the outer doors but they froze after taking another step, their momentum carrying them into the path of Venri and her horrific ammunition. Both were dealt with in short order and before Jess could wonder what made them freeze up, she felt it.

It was the same aura she had felt when they were ambushed a week ago. That oppressive but uplifting presence that washed over her completely. This time it was much more potent, and she could feel its influence. Her trait made her aware of the promised retribution the aura carried. She then tuned in to the noises behind her.

Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. Boom. BOOM. A cacophony of explosions and waves of over pressure assaulted Jess’s sensitive ears and she risked a glance over her should. It took her but a moment to spot the source of the chaos. Matt stalked forward, rifle tucked under his arm and an aura of blue plasma wafting off of him in waves. Everywhere it touched, organic matter burned, scoured and turned to ash under its touch.

Jess returned her attention to the tunnel. She wouldn’t have to worry about the corrupted patriarch for much longer. She wouldn’t suffer the transgressions of these mutants for a minute more than necessary. She changed her magazine and squared up in the doorway, reinvigorated and more wrathful than ever before.

*****

The patriarch was reeling from the multiple explosive devices that Matt had thrown and fired at it. Many of its eyes were ruptured from the over pressure and it was bleeding from hundreds of punctures and tears. Still, he fired every round in his magazine into the beast as it rolled to its feet. It was missing the lower part of its leg and the vast majority of one arm. Along with being mostly blind and probably concussed, it was in rough shape.

Matt felt the bolt lock back on his rifle and changed magazines as fast as possible. He then stowed his rifle, pulling out the tomahawk and imbuing the cutting edge with his plasma. When he finally closed within 10 meters, he noticed the skin of the patriarch start to crack and char. The beast seemed not to mind since it didn’t flinch away from it, but did seem hesitant.

Seizing on that moment of hesitation, Matt teleported forward and reappeared just behind the remaining arm of the mutant. He swung for all he was worth, aiming at the long bones between the wrist and last ‘elbow’. His blade struck true but couldn’t cut all the way through and buried itself into the bone. He wrenched it free and teleported away, leaving a blast of plasma to wash over the monster.

The patriarch howled in pain as the superheated gasses washed over it in a wave. Most of the eyes closed out of reflex but those that didn’t were burst like overripe grapes. Matt then took a couple long lunging steps forward and buried the spike into its knee. With a twist like he was doing wrenching a stubborn bolt, the kneecap was split into 2 halves. Matt then ducked under the knee but not in time to miss the taloned hand that swatted at him from the side.

Matt was struck in the waist by the flat of the palm and knocked sideways, sliding to a stop over 15 meters away. He quickly rolled back to his feet, trying to ignore the stabbing pain from what was now definitely broken ribs. He summoned his rifle again and fired a dozen rounds into the still exposed knee. The unstable imbued rounds eventually ripping a hole all the way through. Switching to the tomahawk, he teleported forward to finish the job.

Arriving in another wave of plasma, Matt struck out at the knee just as he received a mental image from Echo who struck at the remaining arm. With choreography only seen in the best of musical numbers, pilot and drake severed the limbs of the patriarch in showers of charred bone and steaming blood.

The patriarch roared in pain as it fell face down. It tried to right itself but the stumps of its arms and legs were at differing lengths and it couldn’t find the traction. Echo pounced atop it and smashed it into the stone of the courtyard, using his full weight to pin the monster. Matt then squared up with the head and pulled out his rifle again.

Matt flipped his selector to full and pinned the muzzle against the center of the patriarch’s forehead just as Echo took another overly deep breath in. Once he felt that his companion had gathered enough mana, Matt pulled and held the trigger. As the imbued rounds began to punch into then through the skull of the patriarch, Echo released a concentrated breath of plasma through the spine of the monster, aimed at the creature’s heart.

The remaining eyes of the patriarch glared at Matt as he fired his rifle, then they all rolled back as the brain was pulverized. It still had some life, as he hadn’t received a kill notice. The patriarch’s living problem was solved a moment later when the lance of plasma from Echo finally broke through and began to burn at the flag stones beneath its body. Matt sagged, the weight of his injuries and near empty mana pool suddenly beyond his ability to ignore.

Ass met floor as the pilot’s legs gave out, leaving Matt sitting just beyond a slowly spreading puddle of blackened blood. He looked up to see his companion sitting proudly atop the carcass. “I need a few minutes.” Matt said and pulled out a healing potion. The others could hold the gate for a little on their own anyway.